Information Technology (IT) systems are of critical importance to businesses and other organizations. It is common to spend large amounts of money and time in designing, developing and upgrading IT systems. One of the first set of activities leading to the development of IT systems includes specifying the requirements that must be fulfilled by the system.
One example of the process for accomplishing this task includes end users using word processing software to provide descriptions to IT personnel of their perceived requirements as text narratives. In another method, end users utilize Requirements Management systems to provide text narratives, or append other documents that are made available to IT personnel for design activities. In still other methods, users and IT personnel work in facilitated sessions to collaborate in describing requirements for system design activities. Most often the outputs of these sessions are text narratives created in word processing systems, as well as simple graphical representations often referred to as Use Cases that describe requirements of the Users. Finally, IT personnel may simply work on system design and development activities without explicit requirements provided by users.
Each of these methods has various inefficiencies as well as the potential for miscommunication for the system requirements. Consequently, a method for efficiently identifying requirements for an information technology system is needed.